photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Cpl. Kacey Wiltz leads a class during the Lawrence Police Department's Teen Police Academy on July 24, 2024, at the department's training center at 4820 Bob Billings Parkway.

Teens who are participating in the Lawrence Police Department’s Teen Police Academy might not expect to see themselves wearing a badge any time soon but instead are making new friends and connecting with Lawrence’s finest.

The Teen Police Academy is a two-week program where kids learn what Lawrence police do and how they do it. The academy covers a variety of skills from self defense tactics to forensic investigations, and the department even puts kids behind the wheel for a lesson in traffic safety.

Attendees leave the academy certified in first aid and CPR but for kids like 15-year-old Isabelle Bobadilla the new skills are just a bonus because she is in it for the friendships.

“I definitely got a lot of friendships and memories out of it, and a lot of information about law enforcement that I didn’t know,” Bobadilla said.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Isabelle Bobadilla

This year is Bobadilla’s second time at the academy. She said most of what she had learned so far was the same as the year before but it didn’t matter because she was having a blast. She said she is going to be a sophomore at Free State High School in the fall and that her interest in law enforcement and the camp started with a close relationship with her school’s resource officer, Lindsay Bishop.

“I heard about it because I was very close with my SRO, Bishop. I would go into her office and talk to her a lot,” Bobadilla said.

She said that Bishop has been a great friend to her at the school and is easy to talk to, and when Bishop suggested that Bobadilla sign up for the academy over the summer, Bobadilla said she jumped at the chance to learn more about what Bishop and other officers do. She said after attending the academy, if she were to go into law enforcement she would want to be a crime scene investigator (CSI).

“I really liked it when we got to the gun range, that day was really fun. And then I like when we do the tours of the different buildings and then the driving day, those are my favorite,” Bobadilla said.

photo by: Contributed

Teens learn gun safety using pellet guns during the 2024 Lawrence Police Department Teen Police Academy.

The relationships between officers and teens is one of the main focuses of the program, said Cpl. Kacey Wiltz who heads the academy and worked to make it a reality. The department has been holding a Police Camp for more than a decade for younger kids but the department wanted a way to connect with older kids outside of the school year.

“We needed something to reach the teens that we were dealing with every day,” Wiltz said.

Wiltz and other officers attended a conference in Colorado held by the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) where they saw what the Aurora, Colorado, Police Department was doing and worked to build a program for Lawrence.

“People would be amazed at how many kids come into our office at school, and just want to know what we do. Like, ‘what do you do? What have you done today?’ They see us out there during lunch, they see us walking in the halls, they see us teaching some classes, but they want to know what police officers do. So this is a good opportunity just to educate,” Wiltz said.

The school resource officer position with the Lawrence police is a four year assignment where officers are embedded in schools. Wiltz is assigned to Lawrence Free State.

“Being an SRO is about building real relationships with students. You’re a mentor, you’re a counselor, you’re an educator, you’re a law enforcement officer. So this is just one step further of building that relationship,” Wiltz said.

Wiltz said the academy helps students who may be looking for a reason to get out of the house during the summer months but also helps officers like her who miss seeing the students every day for three months of summer.

Some students found the academy organically, like 17-year-old Ian Warner, who said he saw a flier for the academy at school. He will be a senior at Free State High School in the fall, and he said police work is his back up plan after signing up for the U.S. Army.

“I decided if the Army doesn’t work out, I want to be a police officer. Then, at least I’ll serve the community,” Warner said.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Ian Warner

He said he would love to become a K-9 officer so he can combine his love of animals with his daily work. He said he owns two American bulldogs and babysits large breed dogs for neighbors and friends.

Warner said going into the academy he expected some basic information about what police do day-to-day but he was surprised at how in-depth the academy actually went into the details of police work.

“It’s beyond my expectations. It has built a whole new world for me. Yesterday, we went into a defensive class for how to defend yourself from robbers or how to defend yourself if you have a friend with you,” Warner said.

He said one of his key takeaways from the academy is how strong of a mind an officer is required to have to deal with such a range of activities each day.

“Physically, I think I can handle it. But mentally, not so much, well, it will take time because police officers have to have a really good mindset. Other than that, I really love it,” Warner said.

Lawrence Police Officer Danny Affalter II is an instructor and he said that getting into the minds of officers is what he hopes kids take away from the academy. He serves as an SRO at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School.

“I really hope that they have a better understanding of what police are by being with us and interacting with us for two weeks. They get to see our human side a little bit,” Affalter said.

Affalter’s father, Dan, was a decorated career officer with the Lawrence Police Department so Affalter was already seeing what officers deal with on a daily basis from a young age. He said he still would have loved to attend a camp like the academy.

“Maybe it would have helped me understand even more of what all my dad did on a daily basis,” Affalter said.

Elijah McMurphy is a 14-year-old student who said he will be a freshman in the Fall at either Free State or Lawrence High School. He said he also found the program after becoming close with his SRO but he said his first positive interaction with police involved the technology they used on the job.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Elijah McMurphy

“They showed me around the cars and let me sit in the backseat. An experience I really remember, one of them showed me his drone, which was big. I like technology a lot, like robots and other things like that. So, as technology advances, I’d like to see what comes into offer with the police force,” McMurphy said.

McMurphy said he has a wide range of interests and that the police academy has shown him there is a lot of diversity in what police officers might be asked to do. He said he saw potential in police work for some of his other interests including using his microscope at home or looking for fossils in his grandparents’ backyard, both similar to the forensic work done by CSI.

He said another of the main things that police and other first responders get to do that he would like to be a part of is helping people and at times, saving lives.

“I also would like to take methods of saving people’s lives, even if I don’t become one of those,” McMurphy said.

photo by: Contributed

A teen practices their CPR technique during the 2024 Lawrence Police Department Teen Police Academy.

Wiltz said that some of the lessons in the academy can help students do just that. Beyond the CPR and first aid lesson, students learn about identifying dangerous drugs and how to recognize the signs of human trafficking.

“It’s education that we want them to know. So if they see something in the high school, they know who they can come talk to,” Wiltz said.

Wiltz said she hopes the academy and the efforts of her fellow SROs in the schools can help redefine how the community views officers who are assigned to work in schools.

“I do want people in Lawrence to know that we’re not in the school to take people to jail. That’s not our job. Our job is to build relationships, keep them interested in school. We want them in school. ” Wiltz said.

The Teen Police Academy will hold a graduation ceremony on Saturday where instructing officers will attend in full dress uniforms to honor the kids who participated in the academy along with their friends and families, Wiltz said.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Ian Warner flips a large tire during the Lawrence Police Department’s Teen Police Academy on July 24, 2024 at the department’s training center at 4820 Bob Billings Parkway.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Teens chat between activities during the Lawrence Police Department’s Teen Police Academy on July 24, 2024 at the department’s training center at 4820 Bob Billings Parkway.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Teens learn about bullet trajectories during the Lawrence Police Department’s Teen Police Academy on July 24, 2024, at the department’s training center at 4820 Bob Billings Parkway.